Sea Shells and Kittens

The Zentangle I posted Tuesday with the figure drawing ended up looking like a shell. I only semi drew the shape as a shell, meaning that I was drawing a shape that reminded me of a shell not that the shape was that of a real shell. But I had fun with it, and  thought why not draw real shell shapes. I am a long time collector/lover of shells. I actually have a collection of shells but most of it is not accessible as it is fill for a glass lamp base. Still there is the internet so I went looking for reference photographs rather then take the lamp apart. I didn't find as many as I would have liked, but did find enough for my purposes. So you see my first attempt at real shells above. The outlines are accurate drawings of shells, but the fills are sort of Zentangles.

I added color by using my watercolor pencils and a wet brush. The pencils are fun as I can do some shading with them before I add the water. Then I can go back into the wet areas with the pencils to intensify the colors if I feel I need to. I am terrible with true watercolors so for me these pencils allow me to add color in a controlled manner. Needless to say the colors are mostly from my imagination and not real shell colors.

Having done the one I though why not a series so below find my second attempt.

So far I only have the two finished, but I have started a third. Maybe I will have it done to post with my figure drawing next week.  The shells, like the drawing below, are all done on Hot Press Watercolor paper, and are fairly small, the drawing size is within a 4 inch square on paper that is approximately 7.5 inches square.

I have been working on this kitten for weeks, obviously off and on. First it took me a while to get the drawing done to my satisfaction, then I put off inking the interior of the kitten. I wasn't sure how I wanted to do it and didn't want to mess it up. I don't consciously plan the interior lines, at least not all of them, but I have to figure out how I want to start and then I can work from there. Usually I start at the head and work to the back.  Once I had the figure of the kitten done I needed to add something for the background. I didn't want to clutter this drawing up so just added the corner of a stool to give the kitten some reference.

Doing these little drawings along with my figure drawings brings up a question. How do I title my works. So far I have been taking a fairly predictable path, so the shell drawings are Shells # 2 and Shells # 3. Not the most creative of titles, but at least they are descriptive. I am open to other suggestions.

That is it for today. One last comment: I have been saddened by recent events in Japan and Libya, one an act of nature the other caused by man. May both countries start to see some relief and positive resolutions to their ongoing struggles in the near future.

Ides of March

Today is the Ides of March. Poor Julius Caesar was told to beware them and ignored the advice, making it the one Ides that has gone down in history as a date to remember. Of course I am not sure it would be so memorable without the line from Shakespeare's play "Beware the Ides of March". For some reason that phrase seems to resonate with the public, so that even today it will be tweeted thousands of times by people who may have never read the play or know who Julius Caesar was. For the record I have read the play and since I studied Latin in High School actually read some of Julius Caesar's writings.

I suppose it is appropriate that this weeks drawing is of a male model. We have so few of them that it is a noteworthy event, never mind that I actually did the drawing on the 14th.  I fear I didn't do him justice, he is a very attractive young man. I am sure he doesn't consider himself that young, but he is only in his early 20's so to  me he is young. The pose was sitting and I admit that I arranged myself to avoid drawing the crotch. That knee in this view was well positioned as far as I was concerned. My personal preference is to not do crotches, either female or male. I know there are other artists who actually prefer that type of pose, not me. That is not to say that if the pose demands it I wouldn't draw it, I would/will/have. I just prefer not to if I have the choice.

Some parts of this drawing I like, and other parts I am not so sure of. Typical I suppose, that said it was fun to draw a male torso instead of a womans, much easier since he wasn't bulked up with muscle.

Otherwise I have been continuing my pen and ink work on the hot press water color paper. Below is my latest effort.

I was looking at Zentangles in a Flicker group I belong to and saw one based on a solid shape that I really liked. I decided to try my own version and the above is the result. I call it Zen Shell #1, since to me the shape ended up looking like a shell. I added color using Cretacolor watercolor pencils. Lightly penciling in the color then using a wet brush to activate and blend the colors. I think the result is kind of fun and am going to try another with more specific shell shapes.

That is it for today, I am still waiting for my House ATC's. I am becoming afraid that they have gotten lost on their way from CA, or perhaps they were delivered to the wrong address. I will be unhappy if they don't show up, but there isn't much I can do about it, ah well, at least my cards arrived in that direction. Per usual comments or questions are welcome.

More Zentangles - sort of

Above is the latest of my animal drawings. I am not sure what to call them, I don't think they are really Zentangles. As I understand Zentangles you are supposed to start with an abstract string (line) and then fill in the page. I am starting with a very accurate drawing of an animal and then working from there. I use geometric lines to fill in the animal shape and then add some additional fills to provide a background. But I never completely fill in the drawing area with texture. I like white space, and feel that it is important to a drawing. I will occasionally do a pen and ink work with little or no white space, as I did last year with my pears, but the even stipple I used for the background of the pears serves the same purpose; a place for the viewers eye to rest.

Below is an image of another pen and ink drawing. Again all of these little works are done on hot press watercolor paper using Technical pens. The paper is approximately 7.5 inches square and most of the drawings are done in a 4 inch square.

I call this one Fantasy Garden Take 2. I have thought about coloring it, but decided I have too many small areas to want to use water color, and I don't want to use colored pencil on this one.  These take me back to the pencil drawings I did when I was younger working with shapes and textures. Pencil gives more range of tone, but ink has its advantages, better contrast with the paper for one thing.

I have more animals drawn waiting for me to fill them in and finish the rest of the drawing, so watch this space for more images. I am open to suggestions if any one has a specific animal they would like to see rendered this way. In the meantime I am still waiting for my House ATC cards. A lot of the others have received theirs but mine still seem to be in transit. I will post images here when I do finally receive them. That is it for today, per usual comments are welcome.